Better processing of crime and corruption is an obligation of all judicial institutions

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HJPC) organized the third meeting today in Sarajevo with representatives of key judicial institutions of BiH and the legal profession of BiH, to discuss the challenges facing the judiciary at a strategic level. The goal of joint meetings is to establish mechanisms and ways of working that lead to more efficient processing of organized crime and corruption cases in the country, with an emphasis on the findings of the Expert Report on Rule of Law Issues in BiH and the OSCE report.

In addition to the HJPC of BiH, representatives of the Court of BiH, the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, the legal profession, and the EU in BiH attended today's meeting, where they agreed on the importance of cooperation and joint work in processing corruption and organized crime cases.

The President of the HJPC of BiH, Halil Lagumdžija, emphasized that the roles of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, the Court of BiH, and lawyers are clear and unquestionable, but only joint work can lead to the desired results and progress, which is why the HJPC of BiH will be continuously involved in resolving all issues and justifying its regulatory role, as prescribed by law.

“It is high time to show progress in the judiciary that the citizens of this country so desire and which is a necessary step in the process of accession to the European Union, and therefore we welcome the initiative of the HJPC of BiH to include all relevant entities in the process of improving key areas, one of which is certainly the processing of corruption and organized crime cases,” said Alfredo Strippoli, acting Head of the Rule of Law Department in the Office of the European Union Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Better processing of organized crime and corruption cases is in the interest of all judicial institutions, for which it is necessary to ensure a continuous mechanism for cooperation at the strategic level. Therefore, during the meeting, they discussed the improvement of key and concrete segments on which the dynamics of the process of improving the work of institutions in processing criminal offenses of corruption and organized crime depend, primarily on the quality of the indictment and the reasoning of the verdict, but also on the efficient planning and organization of the main hearing.

The meeting was organized within the project “Building an Effective Judiciary in the Service of Citizens”, funded by the EU.